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The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, and the season will premiere on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute debut. It is in the same filming location as Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Fiji and Tonga were said to be alternate locations.

Aggie Grey's, the hotel that was used in the two aforementioned seasons was used once again to accommodate the staff and crew. The duration of their stay was reported to be identical to their last visit to Samoa. The said hotel had no availability from May 16 to September 16, 2011. Locals have been very appreciative hosting the show for a third time, stating that it helped boost their tourism industry (with revenues reported to be approximately $6,000,000 for filming seasons 19 and 20). The show also helped the devastated country recover from the 2009 Samoan tsunami.

Redemption Island: Redemption Island returned this season, but with new tweaks. During "group duels," or duels that have more than two competitors, only one winner stays, sending all the other contestants home.

One Returning Player Per Tribe: Two former contestants returned to compete in this season. Former castaways Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth joined this season's batch of contestants. Jeff stated that their poor social skills had put them to jeopardy in their earlier seasons, and this would be their chance to improve in that aspect.

Hidden Immunity Idols: The clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at camp. Once the clue is unearthed, the player will have a better chance of finding the idol.

Sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Savaii and Upolu, were joined by returning contestants, Ozzy Lusth and Coach Wade, with Ozzy joining Savaii and Coach joining Upolu by random draw. Redemption Island was again in play: voted out players would be sent to Redemption Island and participate in duels, with the winner remaining there until either the next duel or until two specific points where players were brought back into the game.

Both tribes rallied under the leadership of Ozzy and Coach. Ozzy's style was somewhat more aggressive, establishing a rift between the majority of his alliance and others, specifically the weaker John Cochran. Coach, having reflected on his past performances on Survivor, had a more open style, which most of the group readily followed, including Brandon Hantz, who later revealed himself to be the nephew of former Survivor castaway Russell Hantz, and had feared revealing this to draw his tribe's ire. Both Ozzy and Coach also found their tribes' respective Hidden Immunity Idols.

The two tribes fared equally at challenges and retained similar numbers, and as they approached the perceived Merge, Ozzy offered a plan to volunteer to be voted to go to Redemption Island, where he would likely win the challenge over Christine Shields Markoski, a former Upolu member, assuring that the tribes would be equal at six members each when merged. This plan went as expected, and the newly merged tribe named themselves Te Tuna. However, Ozzy's former rash behavior to Cochran was seen as an opportunity by the former Upolu members, and they were able to turn Cochran to their side on the first vote after the Merge, voting out former Savaii member Keith Tollefson. The Upolu members and Cochran would continue to dominate at Tribal Council, sending the remaining Savaii members to Redemption Island, starting with Ozzy, who dominated at Redemption Island subsequently.

With no other Savaii members remaining, Cochran was voted out next, followed by Upolu outsider Edna Ma. In the subsequent challenge, Brandon won immunity but offered it to his closest ally Albert Destrade, who was the intended target of the vote. Brandon was voted out and defeated by Ozzy the next day at the final Redemption duel. Ozzy returned to the game and won the subsequent challenge; at Tribal Council, Sophie Clarke broke down into tears but affirmed her commitment to the game, and Rick Nelson was voted off. In the Final Immunity Challenge between Coach, Ozzy, Sophie and Albert, Sophie was narrowly able to defeat Ozzy; and she and her former Upolu members voted off Ozzy for the third and final time. Coach, Albert, and Sophie faced the Final Tribal Council, where Coach was criticized for manipulating his tribe while simultaneously preaching the importance of honor and Albert was considered to have given his former tribe members false hope. The Jury awarded Sophie the title of Sole Survivor over Coach and Albert in a 6-3-0 vote, respectively.

^1There was no duel, as there was only one inhabitant at the time.^2Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.^3A tie between Keith and Rick forced a re-vote; Cochran switched his vote from Rick to Keith, eliminating him.

In Episode 8, Tribal Council resulted in a tie. Per the rules, a second vote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for the two tied.